Multiple Reverse Osmosis sub-units supplied by unsteady power sources for seawater desalination

AbstractA major drawback of Reverse Osmosis (RO) desalination units is their poor performance at off-design conditions. On the other hand, they can operate with low specific energy consumption and produce high-quality fresh water when they are supplied with almost constant power, according to their design and nominal operating conditions. This aspect brings additional effort when there is the need to desalinate seawater or even brackish water using unsteady power sources, such as renewable energy systems powered by, for example, solar or wind energy. In order to overcome this issue, an alternative small-scale RO unit is investigated here, whose major advantage is that it can operate with almost constant specific energy consumption and produce high-quality fresh water with low Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) for a wide range of power input. Such unit is suitable to be combined with small-scale energy systems, which can have a very high variety on their power output, such as PV, wind turbines, or even solar Or...

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